Monday, May 16, 2011

The Vedas

Chandogya Upanishad 3.14 1, 3

The separate self dissolves in the sea of pure consciousness, infinite and immortal. Separateness arises from identifying the Self with the body, which is made up of the elements; when this physical identification dissolves, there can be no more separate self. This is what I want to tell you, beloved.

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Chapter 2, 4:12)

As the rivers flowing east and west

Merge in the sea and become one with it,

Forgetting they were ever separate rivers,

So do all creatures lose their separateness

When they merge at last into pure Being.

(Chandogya Upanishad. 10:1-2)

What the sages sought they have found at last. No more questions have they to ask of life. With self-will extinguished, they are at peace. Seeing the Lord of Love in all around, Serving the Lord of Love in all around, they are united with him forever.

(Mundaka Upanishad. 3:2:5)

...But those who worship me with love live in me, and I come to life in them. He who knows me as his own divine Self breaks through the belief that he is the body and is not reborn as a separate creature. Such a one is united with me. Delivered from selfish attachment, fear, and anger, filled with me, surrendering themselves to me, purified in the fire of my being, many have reached the state of unity in me. (Bhagavad Gita 4:9-10)

And this Self, who is pure consciousness is Brahman. He is God, all gods: the five elements - earth, air, fire, water, ether; all beings great or small, born of eggs, born from the womb, born from heat, born from soil: horses, cows, men, elephants, birds; everything that breathes, the beings that walk and the beings that walk not. The reality behind all these is Brahman who is pure consciousness. All these while they live, and after they have ceased to live, exist in him. (Aitareya Upanishad)

When identified with the ego, the Self appears other than what it is. It may appear smaller than a hair's breadth. But know the Self to be infinite. (Shvetashvatara Upanishad. 5:8-9)

The supreme Self is neither born nor dies. He cannot be burned, moved, pierced, cut, nor dried. Beyond all attributes, the supreme Self is the eternal witness, ever pure, indivisible, and uncompounded, far beyond the senses and the ego... He is omnipresent, beyond all thought, without action in the external world, without action in the internal world. Detached from the outer and the inner, This supreme Self purifies the impure. (Atma Upanishad. 3)

Though all the galaxies emerge from him, He is without form and unconditioned. (Tejabindu Upanishad. 6)

Meditate and realize this world is filled with the presence of God. (Shvetashvatara Upanishad. 1:12)

You are the supreme Brahman, infinite, yet hidden in the hearts of all creatures. You pervade everything. (Shvetashvatara Upanishad. 3:7)

"That in whom reside all beings and who reside in all beings, who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being--I am That." Amritbindu Upanishad

"That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the

The Vedas are considered the earliest literary record of Indo-Aryan civilization, and the most sacred books of India. They are the original scriptures of Hindu teachings, and contain spiritual knowledge encompassing all aspects of our life. Vedic literature with its philosophical maxims has stood the test of time and is the highest religious authority for all sections of Hindus in particular and for mankind in general.

Veda” means wisdom, knowledge or vision, and it manifests the language of the gods in human speech. The laws of the Vedas regulate the social, legal, domestic and religious customs of the Hindus to the present day. All the obligatory duties of the Hindus at birth, marriage, death etc. owe their allegiance to the Vedic ritual. They draw forth the thought of successive generation of thinkers, and so contain within it the different strata of thought.